Women and the New Fiction - The University of Adelaide Digital Library

18 Pages·2008·1.32 MB·English

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CHAPTER 4
Women and the New
01
Fiction 1880-1900
The last twenty years ofthe nineteenth century witnessed a
quiteunprecedentedproliferationofwomennovelists - aphe
nomenon that did not go unnoticed in its time; a writer
complains in 1894 tha,'the society lady, dazzled by the
brilliancy ofher own conversation, and the serious-minded
spinster, bitten by some sociological theory, still de
cide ... thatfiction is theobviousmediumthroughwhichto
astonishorimprovethe world. Ido not knowwhethersolid
'1
statistical evidence could be adduced for the contemporary
sense that women dominated the novel, ifonly numerically;
but it is undeniable that they achieved a considerably higher
representationin the ranks ofprofessional authors thaninany
previous period. Nor were they all unknownorunrecognised
minor talents: many women writers who are now forgotten
were in their time widely read and discussed. Sarah Grand's
novel The Heavenly Twins soldforty thousand copies withina
few weeks ofits publication in 1893;2 George Egerton's first
volume ofshort stories, Keynotes (1893), gave its name to a
whole series of books published by John Lane, known as
'Petticoat'Lanepartlyforthatreason;andaPunchparodyofthe
same book, thinly disguised as 'She-Notes' by Borgia
Smudgiton,3followstheoriginalinsuchdetailastosuggestthat
all the magazine's potential readers could reasonably be ex
pectedto know it.
But the significance ofsuch women writers was not res
trictedtotheirnumericalstrengthortheircommercialsuccess.
Theywereperceived, andtosomeextentregardedthemselves,
as constituting by virtue oftheir sex alone aschool or class of
writers. Theyoftenclaim to bewriting withfemale readers in
mind, andtobemakingapoliticalormoralstatementonbehalf
oftheirsex;EllaHepworthDixon, forexample, wrotetoStead
I
Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900
thathernovel TheStoryofaModern Woman (1894)wasintended Yellow Book, blames women writers for the prominence of
as'apleaforakindofmoralandsocialtrades-unionismamong sexualthemes:
women. Theexampleofthetrades union probablyunderlies
'4
Itwassaidofagreatpoetbyalittlecriticthathewheeledhisnuptialcouch
the recurrent suggestion, in the 'New Women' fiction, that
intothearea;butthesesmallpoetsandsmallernovelistsbringouttheirsick
women must and will combine, either against men or against
intothethoroughfareandstopthetrafficwhiletheygiveusaclinicallecture
specificabuses. Thesolidarityofwifeandmistress, orofvirgin upontheirsufferings. Wearetoldthatthisispartoftherevoltofwoman,
and whore, is often recognised as a crucial element in the andcertainlyourwomen-writersarechieflytoblame. Itisoutofdate, no
struggleagainstthedoublestandardofsexualmorality, as, for doubt, to clamour for modesty; but the woman who describes the
sensationsofchildbirthdoesso, itistobepresumed- notasthewriterof
example, in Lucas Malet's The Wages ofSin (1891) or Annie
advicetoawife- butasanartistproducingliteratureforart'ssake.Andso
Holdsworth's]oanna Trail, Spinster (1894). In this situation,
onemayfairlyaskher:Howisartservedbyallthis?Whathasshetoldusthat
writingcame,toadegree,toberegardedasinitselfapoliticalact wedidnotallknow, orcouldnotlearnfrommedicalmanuals?andwhat
ofsexual solidarity. It is not surprising, then, that reviewers impressionhassheleftusoverandabovethememoryofherunpalatable
saw in the proliferation of women~writers the marks of an details?'
organised school. W. T. Stead, reviewing a rather miscel Thiscriterionofteachingsomething'thatwedidnotallknow'
laneous collection ofnovels and stories by women in 1894, isonewhichdoesnotseemtohavebeenappliedtotheworksof
unites them with this dizzying defmition: 'The Modern maleauthors.
Woman novel is not merelyanovel writtenbyawoman, ora In asense, all this was undoubtedly exhilarating for female
novel written about women, but it is a novel written by a writers and readers, for it allowed them to take speech for
woman about women from the standpoint ofWoman. The
'5 themselves;onewritercommentsin1896that'Itisonlyduring
last phraseisolates the factor which unifies indifferentiation the last twenty years or so that the voice ofwoman has really
the tendency for the central female characters, either indi beenheardinliterature. Further,itopenedupafargreaterplay
'9
viduallyorasagroup, tobethecentresofconsciousnessinthe of possibilities in both narrative and form, of which many
novel, ratherthanmerelyobjectsencounteredbymalesubjec womenjoyouslyavailedthemselves. EthelVoynich'sGemma
tivity. Infact, thistendencyisbynomeansconfinedtobooksby Bolla, for example, is a political activist in Italy (as is Mark
women, as the evidence of Meredith or Gissing indicates; Rutherford's ClaraHopgood).IOA particularlyrich instanceis
indeed, Carolyn Heilbrun has named the whole fin de siecle the eponymous heroine ofLady Florence Dixie's Gloriana; or
period that ofthe 'Woman as Hero'.6 Nevertheless, the ex the Revolution of1900 (1890), who passes for a man inorder to
periencing heroine was felt by many writers and readers to be proveher abilities - which she undeniablydoes, becoming in
the distinctive quality of women's writing, and this sense turn headboy at Eton, champion Hunt Steeplechasejockey,
pervades much contemporarydiscussion. Commander-in-Chief of para-military women's 'volunteer
Onemanifestationofthecentralityoffemalecharacterswas companies', sponsor of a successful Woman Suffrage Bill,
the introduction ofa whole range ofhitherto marginalised or founder ofaHall ofLiberty where womenstudents, athletes,
suppressed subject-matter into the novel. The exploration of and brass bands live and perform, and, perhaps inevitably,
theexperienceoffemalecharactersinvolvedaconfrontationof PrimeMinister;ultimately, revealedasawoman,shefindslove
sexual and marital relationships which had long lain on the and marriage, sparks offafeminist revolutionand is secularly
unspoken andunspeakable peripheryoffiction. Issues such as canonisedbysucceedinggenerations. (Thisbook,incidentally,
prostitution, rape, contraception, adultery, and divorce? has the distinction ofwhat must surely be one ofthe earliest
appear withincreasingfrequency andsomeexplicitness, often examples of a now familiar phrase, in its disclaimer ofany
provokingoutrageanddisgustinthecritics. ArthurWaugh, in antagonismtowardsmen:'TheAuthor'sbestandtruestfriends
thesomewhatunlikelysettingofthatcitadelofdecadence, The ... have beenandare men.'11)
66 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900
Gloriana's feminist Utopia - albeit, for muchofthebook, a I: itsownaction, itsownplot, enactingaswellas articulatingthe
I
transvestite one - is only one instance of the profusion of protestofthetext. TheStoryofanAfricanFarmholdsintension
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alternative fictional forms in this liberation of experiment. the dispassionate Emersonian pose ofthe objective narrator,
Short stories, fantasies, dream-stories, essay fiction, and im-. that'RalphIron'whointervenesbetweenauthorandtext, and
r: .
pressionisticsketchesareallformslargely, thoughnotofcourse the commitment to a passionate vision - Lyndall's and
exclusively, developedorre-workedbywomen writersinthe Schreiner's - which is allowed only one articulate eruption
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period. So,Jane Hume Clapperton's Margaret Dunmore: or, A , intothenarrative, butwhichinformsandtroublesthestructure
SocialistHome(1888), adrearytaleofeugenic'socialism',mixes bothbeforeand afterthe chapterthatbearsLyndall's name. In
epistolary form, drama, and omniscient narration; Olive '1 works by male writers, too, the realist narrative mode is
Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm (1883) breaks its frequentlyunsettled.TheexampleofHardycomestomind:the
I
if
narrative with lengthy allegories; and many novels include abrupt and disturbing shifts in point of view in Tess the
brieforlongpassagesofverse. Theleisurelyandparticularised d'Urbervilles enact the threatened dominance ofthe distanced
realist narrative is displaced by the fragmentary and unparti narrator. In this respect, the 'New Woman' fiction is at the
cularisedshortstory, byfantasy, bymixedmodesofproseand opposite pole from the naturalist novel, which preserves a
poetry, and so on: but the period's challengeto the dominant scrupulously 'scientific' distance from the paticularities ofits
fictional mode ofrealism took only in part the form ofsuch text; the difference between Tess and George Moore's Esther
experimentalism in genre. More than this, the characteristic Waters (1894) resides partlyinthis questionofthemaintenance
narrative voice of the realist novel, that of the omniscient and manipulationofpoints ofview.
commentator who circumscribes and thus ironises the con The formal experimentation ofthe New Fiction, together
sciousnessofthe hero, is disturbedbythe appearanceofother withitsopenlysexualcharacter,posedasignificantchallengeto
kindsofvoicewhichthrowintoquestionthisdistancebetween thepoweroftheeditorsofperiodicalsandtheproprietorsofthe
author and character. The 'New Woman' novel was often circulating libraries; so it is that this period sees the demise of
perceived as a work of propaganda or a disguised tract for thepreviouslydominantmodeofpublication, thefamilyserial
precisely this reason: not becauseits ideological project is any and the three-decker. As early as 1885, Gissing was able to
13
morevisibleordetermining thaninotherkinds offiction, but announcethischange, andalsotodeclarehisenthusiasmforthe
becauseofthesporadicpunctuationofthenarrativebymedita modificationsinnarrativemodeandvoicewhichaccompanied
tion, harangue orlyric, by an informing commitment which it:
constantly threatens the circumscribingnarrative voice.
Now Ido not wish here to suggest - with the concomitant Itisfinetoseehowtheoldthreevolumetraditionisbeingbrokenthrough.
Onevolumeis becomingcommonestofall. Itis thenewschool, due to
riskofreinforcingasexualstereotype - thatthe'NewWoman'
continentalinfluence. ThackerayandDickenswroteatenormouslength,
fiction is marked by its adjustment to a characteristically
and with precision ofdetail; their plan is to tell everything, and leave
femininesubjectivity(aninterpretationsometimesmadeatthe nothing to be divined. Far more artistic, Ithink, is thelater method, of
time, asIshallshow). Itisratherthattheposeofthe'objective' merely suggesting; ofdealing with episodes, instead ofwriting biog
narrator - theanonymous, balancedreporterwhocanauthor raphies. The old novelistisomniscient; Ithink itis better to tell astory
preciselyasonedoesinreallife, surmising, tellingindetailwhatcansobe
itatively interpret the behaviour and states of mind of the
told and no more. In fact, it approximates to the dramatic mode of
characters - isunsettledbythetensionbetweenthismalevoice
presentment.
14
(it is not an accident that so many female writers take male
pseudonyms) and the periodic dissolution ofthe boundaries Itis interesting to note that Gissing welcomes the new forms
betweenauthorand character. Itisasifat moments thereis no primarily as a new and more thoroughgoing kind ofrealism.
mediatingnarrator;thewritingofthefictionbecomesforatime Newjournals, such as The Yellow Book and its imitator The
68 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900
Savoy, sprang up to accommodate poems, short stories, and that superfluous babies should be handed over to the chemist, and was
even fragments - Victoria Cross's 'Theodora. A Fragment' knownto takeastrongviewinfavourofvivisection."
was one ofthe more notorious examples ofthe New Woman
Nordau's tireless and massively influential castigation of
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inaction. Publishing houses were quick to open their lists to
degeneracyinhisEntartung(1892;translatedintoEnglishfrom
new writers whose work (sometimes enormously successful
thesecondeditionin1895)gavethecriticalhostilitytotheNew
on the market) dealt with women or sex, as John Lane's
Fiction a fresh impetus. Diagnosed in a reassuringly medical
'Keynotes'seriesandHeinemann's'Pioneer'seriestestify. The
way as 'erotomania' or 'sex-mania',19 it was variously con
NewFictionhadanenormousimpact, notonlyonpublIshers,
demnedfor squalor, morbidity, pessimismanddecadence, at
butonreadersandcriticstoo. Reviewers, especiallythosewho
tributed with varying degrees ofaccuracy to the influence of
wrotein the morelong-establishedperiodicals, reactedonthe
French poetry, Scandinavian problem-literature, Thomas
whole with shocked incomprehension. The vocabulary of
Hardy, and Oscar Wilde.20 (Shaw, in the 1905 Preface to his
realism, itselfseen comparativelyrecently as outrageous, was
previouslyunpublished 1880novel The Irrational Knot, was.to
rapidly pressed into service to accuse these new writers of
ridiculesuch attributions and argue that 'therevoltoftheLife
disproportion intheiremphasis onthesexual:
Force against readymade morality in the nineteenth century
Thenewfictionofsexualitypresentstousaseriesofpicturespaintedfrom was not the work ofa Norwegian microbe, but would have
reflectionsinconvexmirrors, thecolossalnosewhichdominatestheface workeditselfintoexpressioninEnglishliteraturehadNorway
beingrepresentedbyonecolossalappetitewhichdominateslife... every never existed'.)21 The rhetoric ofattacks on the New Fiction
whereitisaflagrantviolationoftheobviousproportionoflife.'6
becomeshighlyphysical, reflectingperhapsthe'physiological
Aftertheinitialmodifiedpraiseofthenoveltyandfreshness of realism' it condemns:
theNew Fiction, thefigure oftheNewWomanexploringher
Instead of walking on the mountain tops, breathing the pure high
ownwomanhoodcamefairlyrapidlytobeperceivedasatired
atmosphereofimaginationfreely playingaroundthetruthsoflifeandof
cliche, fit matter for parodyY In fact, satire or parody ofthe love, they force us down into the stifling charnel-house, where animal
NewWomanbecamefor atimeasub-genreofitsown, taking decay, withitsswarmsofloathsomeactivities, meetsusateveryturn.22
insuchworksasSydneyGrundy'splayTheNew Woman(1894)
Buteveninthecensuringofdecadence, thedifferenceofsex
and Kenneth Grahame's role-reversal satire The Headswoman
comesinto play. A distinctionwassometimesdrawnbetween
(1898). Theopponentsorreformersofmarriagewereparticu
the varieties of degeneracy practised by male and female
larlypopulartargets;thispassageisfromWilliamBarry'snovel
writers. As wellas thosebooks bymen whichopenlytook up
The Two Standards (1898):
the 'woman question' - such as the pro- or anti-free union
Some, as, for instance, Miss Vane Vere, the well-known professor of novels of Grant Allen, William Barry and Frank Frankfort
RationalDressandDancing,spokeof"terminableannuities",bywhichit Moore - there were within the New Fiction a number of
issuspectedthattheymeantengagementslastingforayearandaday, but formally experimental works which dealt withsexual themes
thentobedissolvedatthepleasure- or, morelikely, thedispleasure- of
from a male point ofview. William Platt's Women, Love, and
eithercontractingparty. Others- andamongtheseMrs. OneidaLeyden
Life(1895) mixespoetry, shortstories, allegoryandessays, and
was far the most advanced- talked of "perfection".... Thus to be
perfectand to be married- atleastalways to thesame partner- didnot makesuseofsubject-matterincludingnecrophiliaandmasoch
seeminaccordancewiththeHigherLaw.Mrs.Leydenwasthoughttohave ism. Inhisstory'APassion', awomanexperiencesthegreatest
obeyed the Higher Law. Into this remarkable scheme a lady from the happiness shehas neverknownthroughdying during acaesa
Turkishfrontier, speakingmanylanguages, andknownbyhereloquent
rean, refusing anaesthetics; she makes her husband swear
bookson thesubjectofwoman's freedom, had broughtfresh compli~a­
always to wear agirdle made ofherflesh. 'The ChildofLove
tionsbyrecommendingtheOrientalhouseholdasapatternforprogesslve
people. But ... this very FrauvonEngelmacherhadboldlyannounced and Death' is yet more extraordinary in synopsis: a woman
70 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900 71
conceivesachildwhilegivinghervirginitytohernewly-killed dom inincidents suchas awife's revealing tohersister-in-law
lover, in a vain attempt to revive him; after a fifteen-month that her feeling for her husband is ' "merelysensual. ... Itis .
pregnancy,sheopensherselfwithaknifetoreleasethechild;she simply because he is handsome and big and strong" or a
',27
survives until the child is weaned; he devotes his life to husband's laconicreaction to his wife's adultery with his best
preachingpurity(carefullydistinguishedfromchastity), andis friend:
beheadedbytheking, who thenordersaprostitutetohavesex
"Yousee,"hecontinued,"youplacemeinaverytiresomedilemma.Imust
with his dead body; she, recognising thedead man's holiness,
eitherdivorceyouandquarrelwithamanwithwhomIamnotintheleast
kills the king instead, addresses words oflove to the headless
angry - he's one ofmy oldest friends and has onlyacted as Ihaveacted
corpse, andcommitssuicide. ThesexualgrotesquerieofPlatt's many times- or I must put myself in the ridiculous position of the
volume (described by Hardy as 'mere sexuality without any forgiving husband and allow him to laugh at me. Think! I must either
counterpoise'),23 and the rapturously breathless style ofhis quarrelwithamanwhowasmychumatschool,orappearabsurdtohim.
Seewhatyouwomendo!"(Episodes, p.112).
prose, can both be seen in this description by a woman ofthe
consummationofaloveaffair: Ignoring 'decadent' books by women like Ella Darcy's
Monochromes (1895) orMabelWotton'sDay-Books (1896), and
"Hestaggereduptomeandtheveinsonhisforeheadstoodbig - hetookme
inhisarmswithnowordbutkissedmewithredhotlipstillthecrispedskin 'high-minded' books by men like Grant Allen's The Woman
ofthemcrumbledontomychin. Nowordpassed- but- Iwouldsayit Who Did (1895) orWilliam Barry's The New Antigone (1887),
proudlyandwithoutshamewereIstandingnowatthejudgmentseatof pre-determined notions ofsexual differenceallowed the New
God! - theactoflovepassedbetweenus.
"24 Fictiontobesplitalongthefault-lineoftheauthor'ssex. Arthur
Lessextravagantly, HenryMurray'sA ManofGenius (1895) Waughsees 'wantofrestraint'and'thelanguageofthecourte
andFrancisAdams'A ChildoftheAge(1894;areworkingofhis san' resulting from the 'ennervated sensation' of women's
1884Leicester: AnAutobiography) bothexploitthesamecentral writing, while 'coarse familiarity' and the language of 'the
situation:astruggling'decadent'artistwithastrongsenseofhis bargee'follow 'acertainbrutalvirility'inmen's.28Apamphlet,
own abilities, living unmarried with a working-class girl The New Fiction, publishedin 1885, distinguishes a'revolting
whom he feels to be holding him back from the fame and woman' noveland a'defiant man' novel:
fortune rightfully his. Bothnovels offerin passing somewhat
Ontheman'ssideitiscynicalas well asnasty;itassumes thatthereisno
cold-bloodedreflectionsuponthenatureoftheserelationships. world except Piccadilly after dark, or perhaps the coulisses of some
Adams' curiously modern novel, a fragmentary dream-like disreputablemusic-hall ... Onthewoman'ssideitseemsatleasttobein
first-personnarrative, has theartistmeditatinguponhisRosy: deadlyearnest, butmanyoftheassumptionsarethesame,mutatismutandis,
andtheexpressionofthemisevenlessveiled."
Then, whenIwasinbed, Iconsideredwhatwastherealconditionofmy
feelings towards her. Without doubt, they were those of complete Still more disturbing to the sensibilities of this truculently
callousness and, perhaps, something more.... It seemed to me to be self-proclaimed'Philistine', itshouldbenoted, isthatfictionof
somethinglittleshortoffollytostayhereandbetroubledwithher.Iought the'morbidandluridclasses'whichdoesnotatoncerevealthe
to gooutinto theworld andseeitsways, soas topreparemyselfformy sexofits writer.
work.25
Notonlytoneandlanguage, butalsotheformofthefiction,
In Murray's more conventional work, a prominent motifis couldbederivedfromthesexoftheauthorthroughtheideaofa
women's attraction towards force and glamour: 'Women are distinct and inherent female temperament. TheGerman critic
likenations, they admireandlove mostdeeply thetyrant who LauraMarholmHansson writes in 1896that:
most completely dominates them. Again, George Street's
'26 Womanisthemostsubjectiveofallcreatures;shecanonlywriteabouther
storiesinEpisodes(1895)andhisnovel TheWiseandthe Wayward
ownfeelings, andherexpressionofthemishermostvaluablecontribution
(1896) adopt a man-of-the-worldly tone ofaristocratic bore- toliterature. Formerlywomen's writingswere, forthemostpart, either
72 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-19°0 73
directly orindirectly, the expressionofagreatfalsehood. They were so ofDeath.... Rosinashouldbe; thelessshe"did", thebetter'
overpoweringlyimpersonal, it was quite comictoseetheway in which
(p. 114)·Rosina,neglectedbyhermother,diesofbrain-fever.It
theyimitatedmen'smodels,bothinformandcontents. Nowt~~twoman
wouldbenaive, andworse, tobesurprisedthatthisnovelisthe
isconsciousofherindividualityasawoman,sheneedsanartisticmodeof
expression, sheflings asidetheoldforms, andseeksfornew. workofawoman;butitisperhapsallowabletobesurprisedthat
30
the pseudonym 'co E. Raimond' conceals Elizabeth Robins,
Butifthewomanwriter'smindwasceaselesslyreturnedtoher friendofWilde,pioneeractressinIbsen'splays,andlaterauthor
sex, herbodywasoftendeniedit. Inthegeneralattacksonthe ofthe suffragist play Votesfor Women (1905). (Nor, it must be
NewFiction,womenwritersaboveallweresubjectedtoagreat said,doesthenovellenditselftoaninterpretationasparody,asa
dealofpersonalabuseandinnuendoabouttheirsexualinclina brilliant and strategic adoption of the male narrative voice,
tions. Stead - a relatively sympathetic reviewer - concludes skillfully undermined by the manipulation ofpoint ofview.)
from Keynotes that its authoris ahermaphrodite, and general Stead's 'phalliccriticism', to borrowMaryEllmann'sphrase,33
ises that the Novel ofthe Modern Woman isoftenwrittenby andRaimond'saccountofthewomannovelist,leadtotheheart
'creatures who have been unkindly denied by nature the ofthedouble-bind:thetroublewithwomenwritersisthatthey
instincts of their sex', who have not 'had the advantage of are women - orelsethat they are writers.
personalexperienceofmarriageandofmotherhood.'31 Again, The representative role of the woman writers, and the
C. E. Raimond's novel George Mandeville's Husband (1894) frequencywithwhichsuchtermsas'thewomanquestion', 'the
takes as what is clearly meant to be a representative case a problem novel', and 'tract' or 'propaganda' recur in contem
woman novelist (the 'George' of the title), whose ruthless porary discussion ofthe New Fiction, draw attention to the
devotiontoherownmediocretalentdemandsthesacrificefirst form taken by this irruption ofthe feminine into the novel.
ofherhusband'sartisticcareer, andthenofheronlychild'slife. Women, aswritersorascharacters, areidentifiedasatoncethe
There can be no mistake about the kind ofnovelist George sourceandthefocus ofa'problem', theprecisetermsofwhich
Mandevilleis: may vary between, say, thefate ofthe 'surplus' womenwhen
menareoutnumberedinthepopulation,andthelevellingoutof
Hiswifewasnotlonginrealisingthatshehadfoundhermission. Yes,she
thedoublestandard. ThewomanwriterandtheNew Woman
had"oraclestodeliver".Shewouldbenotonlyanovelist,butateacherand
leaderofmen.ShewouldchampionthecauseofProgress,shewouldhold alike are invariably called upon as spokeswomen: they repre
high the banner ofWoman's Emancipation. She would not consent, sent, and are represented by, their sex - or, more accurately,
however, tobecriticisedbythenarrowstandardsappliedintheseevildays theirsexasitisboundedbytheirclass-situation. Thesymbolic
to woman's work. She was assured she had a powerful and original
names ofmanysuchheroines reveal this - nameslike'Ideala',
mind- shewouldnotallowthesoftveilofhersextohidehermeritfrom
'Speranza', 'Angelica', 'Newman', and 'Eve'.34 Despite the
thepubliceye. Shewouldcallherself"GeorgeMandeville".
32
historical componentimplicitinthename'New Woman', itis
Mocked as a 'large, uncorseted woman' (p.9) whose size and the typicality ofsex which is dominant. The woman is con
coarseness make her sexual demands repellent, she moves in tinually returned to hersex, identified, analysed, and made to
a circle composed entirely of 'effeminate' actors and ugly, explain herselfon the basis ofher difference, her divergence
fanatical, 'advanced' women. Her husband is devoted to their from the male norm (there is, afterall, no 'Man Question').35
daughter, fromwhomheextractsapromisethatshewillnever This determining typicality ofsex marks a shift in the ideo
writeorpaint,becausewomen'sartisticproductionsaretainted logical project ofnovels about women during thefin de siecle
with the vices ofamateurism and mediocrity which corrupt period, away from the immediately preceding concern with
taste and lower standards. This is the height ofhis paternal womanliness, and toward the elaboration of a concept of
ambition for her: 'Rosina should never struggle and toil; she womanhood - adistinctionwhichIshalltryto makeclear.
shouldbenomorethanadignifiedlooker-onatthisnewDance 'Womanliness', as John Goode has shown,36 signifies that
r
74 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900 75,
whichis womanly, orlikeawoman:itis womanlytobelikea He comes, she waits; he asserts, she assents. The two marry,
woman, and a woman is one who behaves in a womanly live on a small income but in great happiness and mutual
fashion - theevident circularity ofthedefinition makes more respect, thedoctor'sintegritysustainedbyhiswife'sinfluence.
or less overt its reference to a socially-constructed concept. Her womanly virtues are rewardedwithafamily ofsons. The
Womanliness is in this sense recognisably a political concept, connectionbetween.theacceptanceofthewomanlyroleandthe
proposing an external standard ofjudgement - it is possible, successfulmarriageissoovertthatthenovel'sreligiousrhetoric
and indeedcommon, for awoman to beunwomanly - rather barely conceals theunderlying economism.
thananinherentdisposition. It may (especiallyin thehands of But perhaps the major exponent ofthefiction ofwomanli
women writers) hold out a promise of satisfaction to the nessisElizaLynnLinton,whoreinforcedheressaysonTheGirl
womanly woman, but its aim is clearly the imposition and of the Period (collected in 1883) with a helpfully schematic
maintenance of sharply differentiated sexual roles. Dinah exposition of the concept in novels such as The Rebel ofthe
Craik's The Woman's Kingdom, first published in 1869, but Family (1880). Here there are three sisters, all ofmarriageable
evidently stillpopular enoughto bereprinting in the I890s, is ageandslenderfinancialresources, tobecontrasted. Theeldest
structurally paradigmatic for the novel ofwomanliness: the has every appearance ofbeing an exemplary woman: quietly
contrasted fatherless or orphaned sisters can be traced back to elegant, unassuming, sheseeminglyaims onlyto please:
JaneAusten. Thenovel'sRuskiniantitle, anditsepigraphfrom
Whensheheardanew-Comersayinaloudwhispertohisneighbour:"What
'Of Queen's Gardens', betray its frame of reference, that
acharmingsmileMissWinstanleyhas!"or:"Whatwonderfulstylethereis
all-powerfulbutindirect'influence'whicheverywomanmust
about her!" or: "What a graceful person she is, and how delightfully
choose to exert, but which she must never wield. The two well-mannered!" then her soul was satisfied because her existence was
sisters here are a teacher, plain, but intelligent and generous, justified. Shehaddoneherdutytoherself, hermother, herfutureandthe
andaconvalescent, beautiful, butselfishandpetty. Theymeet familyfortunes. Shehadthereforeearnedherherrighttobewell-dressed
andtakenoutintosociety, asfairlyasaworkman, whohaslaidhistaleof
two precisely complementary brothers - adoctor, not hand
bricks, hasearnedhispintofbeerandhisstipulatedweek'swages.
38
some, but full ofcharacter and strength, and a sickly artist,
handsome and charming, but weak and unstable. The exact But the incongruously clear-sighted economic metaphor
symmetry of character, profession, age and appearance is should alert the reader to the trap, for Thomasin's exemplary
striking. The frivolous couple drift into equivocal relations, behaviourisvitiatedbyherexcessiveawarenessofitsvalueasa
almost marry, butdo not; hewastes his talents andbecomes a commodity. Her motivation is too self-consciously directing
vagabond, whileshemakesawealthybutemptymarriageand her behaviour, and so her discretion and modesty are trans
has only a single daughter to show for it. The good pair, mutedinto 'thisquietimmorality, thiscynicalgoodsense, this
however, form a strong and stable relationship - this is the apotheosisofworldlywisdom'(III,203).ThefigureofThoma
qualityofit: sin, with her 'masculine' name, reveals something of the
contradictioninherentinLinton'ssituationas awomanwriter
Shewatchedhimcoming,atallfigure, strongandactive,walkingfirmly,
serving the ideology ofwomanliness: the novel's projectis to
withoutpauses orhesitation ... Therehewas, the rulerofherlife, her
showthatwomanlinessis theonlyguaranteeofsuccessonthe
friend,herlover,somedaytobeherhusband.Hewascomingtoassumehis
rights, toasserthissovereignty. Amomentaryvagueterrorsmoteher, a marriage-market, and yet to propose as a naturally womanly
fearasto theunknown future, atenderregretforthepeacefulmaidenly, qualityaselflessnesswhichwouldnecessitateignoranceofthat
solitarydaysleftbehind,andthenherheartrecogniseditsmasterandwent fact. The womanliness ofthe project is undercut by Linton's
forthtomeethim;notgleefully, withtimbrelsanddances, butveiledand
unwomanly awareness ofits fictionality, and this, as I shall
gentle, graveand meek;contentedandreadytoobeyhim, "evenasSara
argue, necessitates a certain dexterity in the manipulation of
obeyedAbraham, callinghimlord."
37
pointofview.
r
Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900 77
IfThomasin is one ofthe figures from Linton's essays, the moral worthlessness is finally exposed, however, in her bet
self-seeking girl of the period, then the youngest sister is rayal ofPerdita's secret love for a local chemist - a betrayal
another - the pleasure seeker. She is a kind ofearly Dickens which, althoughmotivatedexclusivelybysexualjealousy,also
heroine - blonde, blue-eyed, flower-like, lisping. But her servestodiscreditherpublicroleasasuffragist. Thusdelivered
sweetnessand charmareunderminedbyherfrivolity andlack fromthedualthreatofsuffragismandlesbianism, Perditafinds
ofsolid moral principle. Here again, though, that principle thewaythatwaslostintheprospectofamarriagewhichisgiven
showsitselftobelargelyamatterofmakingthebestuseofher acertainspuriouslyradicalairbyitssocial'unsuitability'. But,
commodity-status. Shefails thewomanlyidealintheopposite though her 'rebellion' (stressed in the novel's title) consists in
direction, by failing to realise the full marketability of her marryingforloveratherthanformoney,thetruerewardforher
charms: sheis, literallyand metaphorically, cheap. Hersisters womanliness comes inheracquiring both: her chemistmakes
only narrowly save her from 'falling' - a possibility tele goodandrescuesherfamilyfromfinancialruin. Heraccession
graphedfrom thefirst inhername, Eva. to womanliness isdependentuponheratonceknowingthatit
The middle sister, Perdita, represents the middle way - a will serve her well (in contrastto Eva) and not knowing it (in
waywhich,againasthenamesuggests,istemporarilylost.Her contrast to Thomasin); the difficulty ofeffecting a coherent
combinationofanintelligentmindandagenerousheartcauses reconciliationbetween the two means that thenarrative voice
hertoberuthlesslysacrificedbyhersisters, butalsogivesriseto must, at a certain point, abandon its privileged insight into
acertainquestioningrebelliousnessinher. Sherealisesthather Perdita's consciousness, and distance her by interposing a
abilitiesarestifledbyhernarrowlife,andlongsforthechangeof mediatinginterpreter. Andsoitisthat, bytheendofthenovel,
sexwhichaloneseems to offerawayoutoftheproblem: shehas resigned therighttospeech, anditisherhusbandwho
givesthefinalplacingofherexperienceforthereader - thatshe
TheheartandsoulofallpoorPerdita'slamentationsandday-dreamswas
hasfound' "awoman'sdutieshigherthanherrights; thequiet
alwaysthiswish- thatshehadbeenbornaboyandcouldgooutintothe
restrictions of home more precious than the excitement of
world to makeanamefor herselfand afortune forher family! ... The
SturmandDrangperiodwithherwassevere;and,seeinghowthecurrentof liberty, theblareofpublicity" ,III, 287). TheRebeloftheFamily
modernthoughtgoes,itwasanevenchancewhetheritwouldendinsome isaparableofthewoman'svoluntarysubjectionofherselftoa
fatal absurdity or work through its present turbulence into clearness of standard of womanliness which, though it is perceived as
purposeandreasonablenessofaction(I, 31).
personally restrictive and unjust, nevertheless constitutes her
The'fatalabsurdity'whichthreatensPerditatakestheformofa onlymeansofsurvival.
thirdofLinton'sGirlofthePeriodcastofcharacters:oneofthe Many ofthe New Woman novels rebel against the limita
'Shrieking Sisterhood', the New Woman Bell Blount, who, tions and uniformity imposed by this concept. The novels of
'hardened', 'unsexed', 'ungraceful','mannish'and'monstrous' liberalfeminismhaveastheirproject,toquoteJohnGoode, 'the
(I, 282-3), lectures on women's suffrage to an audience of possiblefreedom ofwomanconceivedasarationalapplication
'mannish' women and 'weedy' men. She also poses a more ofthe social contract';39 they tend either to be programmatic,
directsexualthreattoPerdita'swomanliness, forshelivesasthe embodying a future resolution ofthe woman question - and
'male' partner in a lesbian relationship which exactly repro hencetotakenon-realistformslikefantasy - ortoconcentrate
ducesthestructuresofpoweranddependenceofaheterosexual onthesymptomsofthe contemporaryoppressionofwomen,
marriage. (Thisrelationoffeminismtolesbianismalsoappears and so to take the form ofa realist novel revolving upon the
in other contemporary novels, such asJames' The Bostonians womaninsocietyratherthaninasinglelove-relationship. The
and GeorgeMoore's A Dramain Muslin (both 1886).) Perdita, characteristicstructuring device ofthe novelofwomanliness,
thoughrepelledbythecoarsetalkandadvancedmanners,finds the contrasting sisters, gives way to that ofthe brother and
herselffascinated by the purposefulness ofBlount's life. Her sister: the disparity betweentheirrespective abilities andfates
Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900 79
givesfocus totheliberalfeministprogrammeof'equality'with tion that she is actually shaped by what is inscribed upon the
menineducation, professionalopportunities, sexualmorality, 'blank' infant is unusual; more common is the image of a
and marital rights and responsibilities. (The precursor in this compression that, released, will allow the 'natural' form to
caseisratherGeorgeEliotthan]aneAusten). So, forexample, reassert itself. Correspondingly, the women ofthese novels
Gertrude Dix's The Girlfrom the Farm (1895) shows a classics undergo their experience, restlessly rubbing against its restric
graduateforcedtopostponehercareerinordertolookafterher tions. Interestingly, aconsiderable bitterness is often directed
father, whileherweakandselfishbrotherpasseshistimeinthe toward the figure of the mother, bearer of the vestiges of
seductionoflocal servants; LadyFlorenceDixie's Redeemedin womanliness. The womanly woman is a kind ofimpending
Blood(1889)isconcernedwithequalrightsofprimogeniturefor threat, tobekilledormaimedinselfdefence, ratherasVirginia
its sibling aristocrats; and Sarah Grand's The Heavenly Twins Woolftalks ofneeding to murder the hovering Angel ofthe
(1893) are a boy and a girl, inseparable in childhood, but House before she could write her fiction.42 The experiencing
subsequentlyforcedapartbythedifferingexpectationsoftheir heroineispolarised:sheisallcertainty, aspiration, desire, while
parents and teachers. Waldo and Lyndall, in Schreiner's The herdoubts andcontradictionsaresplitoffandembodiedinthe
Story ofan African Farm, are quite different, however, in part Motherwhobindsheraboutwithprejudiceandcustom. Tant'
because Waldo is not in any degree complicit in the sexual Sannie, the mother-figure in Schreiner's novel, is agrotesque
oppression of Lyndall, but is rather her male counterpart, caricature ofthe womanly woman, hugely fat and endlessly
outcast and misunderstood; the submerged parallel between receptive, consuming dried apricots and dessicated husbands
womanas bearerofchildrenandmaleartistsurfacesinthefact with thesameindifferent rapacity:
that Waldo's two major projects, his sheep-shearing machine
"marriageisthefinestthingintheworld.I'vebeenatitthreetimes,andifit
and his carved stick, each take him nine months to bring to
pleasedGodtotakethishusbandfrom meIshouldhaveanother. \
fruition.4O Nevertheless, Lyndall's long speech draws an ex
plicit contrast betweenthe lives markedoutfor them by their Somemen are fat, andsomemenare thin;somemen drinkbrandy, and
somemendrinkgin;butitallcomestothesamethingintheend;it'sallone.
differenceofsex:
Aman'saman, youknow" (II, 297-9).
"We all enter the world littleplastic beings, withso much naturalforce
PerhapstheclearestcaseofsuchapolarisationoccursinMona
perhaps, butfortherest- blank;andtheworldtellsuswhatwearetobe,
andshapesusbytheendsitsetsbeforeus.Toyouitsays- Work;andtousit Caird'stwonovels, The WingofAzrael(1889) and The Daugh
says- Seem . .. To us itsays - Strengthshallnothelp you, norknow tersofDanaus(1894);inboth, themotheristhefocusofacurious
ledge, norlabour. Youshallgainwhatmengain, butbyothermeans.
mixture of guilt, resentment and pity. Every mother, for
Thenthecursebeginstoactonus. Itfinishesitsworkwhenwearegrown Caird, is one more link in a long chain binding women to
women, who no more look out wistfully atamore healthy life; we are renunciation and sacrifice, and every motherdemands vicari
contended. We fit our sphere as a Chinese woman's foot fits her shoe
ous restitution. The motherin both booksis at oncedisabling
exactly, as though God had made both- and yet Heknows nothing of
anddisabled, atyrannicalinvalidwhoseveryhelplessnessadds
either.Insomeofustheshapingtoourendhasbeenquitecompleted.The
force to herdemands:
partswearenottousehavebeenquiteatrophied, andhaveevendropped
off;butinothers,andwearenotlesstobepitied,theyhavebeenweakened
Sherealizednow, withagonising vividness, thesadnessofher mother's
andleft.Wewearthebandages,butourlimbshavenotgrowntothem;we
life, thelongstagnation, theslowdecayofdisusedfaculties, andtheache
knowthatwearecompressed, andchafeagainstthem" (II, 39-42).
thataccompaniesallprocessesofdecay, physicalormoral. Notonly the
Thisintenselyphysicalisedsenseofchafingagainstcramping I, strongappealofoldaffection,entwinedwiththeearliestassociations, was
limitation pervades the feminist novels; the analogy between at work, but the appeal ofwomanhood itself: - the grey, sadstory ofa
woman'slife, bareanddumbandpatheticinitsironyandpain:theinjury
the Chinese practice offootbinding and the constraints upon
from without, and thentheself-injury, itsdirectoffspring; unnecessary,
the growing middle-class girl recurs.41 But Lyndall's percep-
yetinevitable;theunconsciousthirstforthesacrificeofothers,thehungry
.1
80 Thomas Hardy and Women Women and the New Fiction 1880-1900 8r
claimsofanatureunfulfilled, thegropinginstincttobringthebalanceof to her death. (The combination ofdesperate resignation and
renunciationtothelevel,andindemnifyoneselfforthelosssufferedandthe anger erupting into violence prefigures Hardy's Tess.) Other
spiritofferedup. Andthatpropitiationhadtobemade.
<3 equallybleakresolutions occur - death, breakdowninto con
Theresignationofthatfmal sentencefirtds anechoinmanyof vention, ortherenunciationofpersonal desireand theaccept
thefeminist novels offailedrebellion. Netta Syrett's Nobody's anceofajoyless future.
Fault (London, r896) ends rathersimilarly, with thewoman's 'Happyendings'areusuallytobefoundonlyinworkswhich
renunciationofherloverfor thesakeofherwidowed mother: permit ofa clearly-defmed programme for the liberation of
,"It isn't aquestionofduty, inclination, religion, oranything, women - works which eschew realism for fantasy or proph
butjusttheoneoverwhelmingnecessityofnotbreakingthetie esy. Ihavealreadymentionedthefeminist UtopiaofGlorianaj
ofblood'" (pp. 25r-2).Itisthe'tieofblood'thatbindsfastestof into the same category fallsJane HumeClapperton's Margaret
all in the attempted revolt, and often plays a crucial role in Dunmore:or,A SocialistHome(London, r888),whichshowsthe
defeatingorsubvertingthewoman's protest. Thedefeatfrom trials and tribulations of'a Provincial Communistic group
without, orthecollapsefromwithin, usuallyfollowsthesame ladies and gentlemen who intend to live, rather than preach,
cycle: anger and resentment fmding expression in violence, SocialismjandwhohopetorearchildrenofapurelySocialistic
suppressedoractual; thenatotal, self-imposedsubmissiveness type' (p. 23). Afterboth practicalandemotionalvicissitudes
ofbehaviourcombinedwiththeattempttopreservesomeinner chapped hands from large-scale potato-peeling, and a poten
space of protestj rebellion, sparked off by the prospect ofa tiallyadulterousaffection - asatisfactoryregimeisestablished
desired lover, marriage, or careerj and a grim fmal result. on the basis of communal domestic labour for the women,
Caird'sThe WingofAzrael(r889) - anovelwhich,sheclaimsin meetingsofself-andgroup-criticism, andaeugenicmeliorism
herPreface, aims'nottocontestortoargue,buttorepresent'44 derivedfromtheworksofPatrickGeddes. Alecturehallisthen
isparadigmatic:ViolaSedley, childofaself-martyringmother setup topassonthebenefitsofthecommunity'sexperienceto
andadomineeringfather, istormentedbythecynicallyclever the working class.
PhilipDendtaith. Shepusheshimoveracliff, and, althoughhe Theprogrammaticfantasyisaformtakenupbyseveralofthe
is notseriouslyhurt, issohorrifiedandfrightenedbyherown malefeminist-sympathisers. GeorgeNoyesMiller'snovel The
anger that she falls into a submissive and numbing religious Strike ofa Sex ([r895]) is a dream-vision, in which women
fatalism. Later they marry, and he is exasperated by her successfully withdraw their labour - the pun, intentional or
passivity: not, provides the novel's structuring metaphor - in order to
get an unconditional guarantee from the male 'management'
Ifshehadbeenahaughty, rebelliouswoman, givinghiminsultforinsult,
that' "no woman from this time forth and forever, shall be
sneerfor sneer, he mighthaveunderstoodit; butsheprofessedthemost
complete wifely submission, obeyed him in every detail, and when he subjectedtothewoesofmaternitywithoutherfreeandspecific
reviledhersheanswerednotagain;yetbehindallthisapparentyieldinghe consent in all cases'" (P.5r). This is to be effected by the
knewthattherewassomethinghecouldnottouch- therealwomanwho implementationof'Zugassent'sDiscovery'. Thenovel'sform
withdrewherselffromhiminexorablyandforever. (II. pp. 111-12). rather curiously mimics its subject in that it constantly
Viola endures his humiliating and sadistic treatment out ofa approachesthepointofdefiningthisdiscovery, butrepeatedly
senseofduty towards hermother, evenwhensherealises that breaks offbefore the climactic revelation is made. Readers of
shelovessomeoneelse. Hermother'sdeathoffersaglimmerof Miller'spamphletAftertheStrikeofaSex(r896) - orthosewho
hope, andViolaarrangestoelopewithherlover.Trappedatthe understood the significance of the phrase 'Member of the
last minute by her husband, whose sexual interest in her is Oneida Community' that appears on the title page below the
re-arousedbythissignofrebellion,shestabshim,fleesfromthe author's name - were to find outthat itis coitusreservatus.
momentaryhorrorinherlover'seyes, andjumpsoverthecliff Without doubt the oddest of the fantasy solutions to the
1\